A Week in December: Difference between revisions
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A young female tube driver meets an unsuccessful barrister; a Scottish muslim is drawn into a radical group, and a Polish footballer tries hard to adapt to life in a Premier league team. |
A young female tube driver meets an unsuccessful barrister; a Scottish muslim is drawn into a radical group, and a Polish footballer tries hard to adapt to life in a Premier league team. |
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The book's peripheral characters play an important part in the general theme of the book. Life for John's wife, in particular, is lonely and boring. John can't engage with her at any level, her children are mysterious teenagers and she feels isolated. She and her circle of friends measure each other on how rich or how thin they are. Radley Scott, a secondary school teacher, becomes dangerously entangled in the fantasy world of "Parralex" the virtual reality game where his "maquette" is sexually aggressive. |
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The novel touches on themes that are issues that we face every day: mental illness, the recession, and a sense of trying to survive in a world of madness, consumerism and greed. |
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Although the novel explores grim reality, there is hope, and love, a thin seam, but nonetheless, still there. |
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Revision as of 18:55, 20 September 2009
A week in December
A week in December is a novel by Sebastian Faulks. It is set during one week in December, and the plot is derived from several disparate characters.
Plot
The book begins with the elaborate seating plan of a dinner party. It ends once that dinner party has taken place. Several of the protagonists are present at the dinner, and the storylines are, to a large extent, tied up as a result of what occurs there.
In the course of the book the reader is introduced to John Veals, a hedge fund trader who is arguably the most important character. He is a ruthless businessman, whose immense fortune seem to have become meaningless. He is more interested in the chase, the challenge of acquiring more and more capital. As he embarks on one of the riskiest deals of his life, his family is about to be torn apart. But does he even care?
A young female tube driver meets an unsuccessful barrister; a Scottish muslim is drawn into a radical group, and a Polish footballer tries hard to adapt to life in a Premier league team.
Themes
The book's peripheral characters play an important part in the general theme of the book. Life for John's wife, in particular, is lonely and boring. John can't engage with her at any level, her children are mysterious teenagers and she feels isolated. She and her circle of friends measure each other on how rich or how thin they are. Radley Scott, a secondary school teacher, becomes dangerously entangled in the fantasy world of "Parralex" the virtual reality game where his "maquette" is sexually aggressive.
The novel touches on themes that are issues that we face every day: mental illness, the recession, and a sense of trying to survive in a world of madness, consumerism and greed. Although the novel explores grim reality, there is hope, and love, a thin seam, but nonetheless, still there.